Last picture show coming to Randolph Nov. 4

Updated 1:51 am, Monday, October 22, 2012

Photo: RANDOLPH AFB, COURTESY

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1934 photo of an actual flyover performed by bi-planes, in support of the film "West Point of the Air, over the Taj Mahal at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. There currently is a photo making the rounds on the internet showing jets flying over in this formation. That photo is not real and appears to be based on the 1934 photo. Randolph AFB has been fielding numerous inquires via phone and email. RANDOLPH AFB/COURTESY

1934 photo of an actual flyover performed by bi-planes, in support of the film "West Point of the Air, over the Taj Mahal at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. There currently is a photo making the rounds

Catherine Long has fond but fleeting memories of seeing movies as a pre-teen in the 1960s at Randolph AFB's grand theater when admission was less than a dollar.

“It was a place to hang out and see your friends,” she said. “A few times, I had to stand in line to get in.”

But the heyday of the theater at the rear of the base's regal domed edifice known as the Taj Mahal is long gone. Officials with Joint Base San Antonio say the theater's last movie screening will be Nov. 4.

For more than 80 years, the distinctive Taj Mahal, which had a role itself in early war films, has been a place to escape life and soak in flashing images of light through celluloid. The culprits in this end of an era are changing technology and competition.

Aside from conversion of movies from 35 mm film to digital formats, “the digital age” has made it easier to see movies at home, said Army Lt. Col. Tom Shrader, public affairs chief with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service in Dallas. Competition from large-screen IMAX and “multiplex” theaters also has lowered attendance at the theater, Shrader said in written responses to a reporter's questions.

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With so many entertainment options in the area, it didn't make sense to spend $120,000 to upgrade the theater with digital capability, he said. It shows second-run movies on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons, for $5 for adults and $2.50 for children.

San Antonio military bases were prominently featured in early silent war movies, most notably “The Big Parade” in 1925, with battle scenes filmed at Fort Sam Houston, and the Academy Award-winning “Wings,” from 1927, shot at Kelly Field and other area locales.

Randolph's ties to film include “West Point of the Air,” from 1935, with images of the Taj Mahal with biplanes in formation spelling “USA” in the background. The movie website IMDb.com lists 10 productions, including three short films, one documentary and an episode of the 1959-60 television series “Men Into Space” that were shot at least partly at Randolph from 1934-59.

One movie, “I Wanted Wings” from 1941, held its world premiere at the base theater. The wartime propaganda film starred Ray Milland, William Holden and Veronica Lake, and won an Oscar for special effects.

According to TCM.com, news outlets reported the special screening at the base would follow a show featuring 300 warplanes, “the biggest single display of its kind ever held in the Southwest.”

So it is with some sadness that airmen, dependents and retirees attend the theater's last screenings. But it will remain in use for symposiums and other live events. In the spring, the theater, initially with 1,150 seats and now 772, will be renamed Fleenor Auditorium, after the late Brig. Gen. Kenneth Fleenor, a former 12th Flying Training Wing commander.

Long said she would often see movies when her father worked at the base in the '60s.

“It was really cool inside, but old,” she said. “It was one of the cheapest places to go for entertainment in those days.”

She and others have wondered if the theater could make a comeback if an investment were made on technology and sound system upgrades. Shrader said AAFES, which has run the theater since 1990, determined after a cost-benefit analysis that it “was not a viable option.”